Why should I get involved?

Our plan is to grow the scale and ambition of the research at our University. We hope the 2022 Futures initiative will help you, our academic researchers, to think about longer-term research plans. We will provide you with the support you need to help realise your visionary ideas. If you've ever wanted the chance to think longer-term and broaden the possibilities of your research - this is the opportunity you've been waiting for.

Why should I get involved?

2022 Futures is open to consider other ideas that need to accelerate their growth in order to become World Leading and provide solutions to society’s big questions. However, the University of Sheffield cannot achieve this alone and understands the power of collaboration to create and implement sustainable solutions.

• We have some seed funding that can support new academic-end user collaborations and by sharing the initial financial risks we hope to demonstrate that we can be a partner of choice for future larger initiatives. Businesses, government departments and the third sector can all be supported under this scheme.

• The first three projects have been creative in instigating links with other research institutions and we can be flexible in exploring mutual benefit whether this is around early career researcher training, collaborative research and or the sharing of facilities.

• The point of 2022 Futures is to support game changing ideas and we want to hear from those who want to get involved with existing projects or propose something of their own.

What do I do if I have an idea that I think fits 'the bill'?

The initial step is to have a group of like minded individuals who have a vision for what they want to research over the next 10-years. This group will then be invited to write a short concept note (typically 2-3 pages) which they will then present to Prof. Richard Jones to gain some initial feedback. The next step all depends on what advice is given regarding the best way forwards.